1. Field of the Invention
The present invention broadly relates to telecommunication services, and, more particularly, to a telephone service that connects a calling party to a called party without requiring the calling party to enter the called party""s telephone number more than once.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an attempt to accommodate or catch up with increased human mobility in today""s world, the modern telecommunications industry has offered, and continues to offer, a number of advanced telephone systems and service plans. For example, some of the advanced Private Branch Exchanges (or, PBX""s) or public telephone switches (in telephone central offices) offer call broadcasting or automatic call redialing features so as to assist the calling party in reaching the desired called party in a timely manner. In call broadcasting, the incoming call from the calling party is broadcast to pre-designated destination telephones (e.g., a select group of telephones in an organization) in an attempt to reach the called party, or, at least to find a party who can receive and answer the incoming call. In a call redialing service, the PBX or the central office switch may sense a busy line condition on the called party""s telephone line and prompt the calling party to select the redialing option. The calling party then hangs up, but the switch or PBX continues redialing the called party""s telephone number for a predetermined duration. The calling party is then connected to the called party when the called party answers during one of the redialing efforts. A telephone service provider may charge the subscriber for such services.
Another useful telephone service that provides mobility to its users is the Personal Number Service (PNS) offered by many telephone service providers. The PNS is very useful to people who lead organized lives and who often travel globally. The PNS gives users the opportunity to be in control of their reachability. The PNS gives the service user the possibility to receive calls at any desired location and gives the user personal mobility and access to telecommunication services. In PNS, the subscriber is assigned a single personal telephone number that remains unchanged even if the subscriber moves from one geographic location to another. The caller does not need to know where the called party (i.e., the PNS subscriber) is to get through. The subscriber, on the other hand, can easily modify the subscriber""s contact information or profile by making a phone call to the PNS service provider""s customer service center or via the world wide web. Thus, the PNS enables a customer to access all of the customer""s telecommunication services, and to make and receive calls, on any terminal. Calls can be routed to the nearest telephone, mobile phone, or message box specified by the PNS subscriber. The PNS service does not depend on a specific telephone receiver terminal or on a specific access network (e.g., wireline or wireless). The PNS lets its subscribers control their contactability by allowing them to specify how, when, where, and by whom they can be contacted.
However, each of the abovementioned featuresxe2x80x94i.e., call broadcasting, call redialing, and personal number servicexe2x80x94has its own limitation. For example, in call broadcasting, the called party may not be available at any of the telephone terminals that the telephone call is broadcast to. In that case, the calling party may have to place another phone call or leave a voice message (if that option is available) for the called party. In call redialing, when the service finally detects that the called party""s line is no more busy and tries to connect the called party to the caller, the caller may have moved from the caller""s original telephone terminal and, hence, the service may not be able to connect the caller to the called party. Thus, even if the called party""s line is now free, the caller is not contactable. The called party may then leave a voice message for the caller, and the caller thus ends up placing another phone call later to the called party if the caller wishes to speak with the called party in person. The problem of caller mobility is not addressed by the PNS either. Instead, the PNS focuses more on callee (i.e., the called party) mobility. The PNS attempts to reach the called party through a number of preselected call receive options. But, even here, it may be possible that the caller may not get a chance to personally speak with the called party. Therefore, the caller may still have to reinitiate the phone call if a conversation with the callee is desired.
It is therefore desirable to devise a telecommunication service that takes caller mobility into account and allows the caller to connect to a destination on one attempt. In other words, it is desirable to provide an intelligent call connection service that doesn""t require the caller to reinitiate the call when the called party""s line is busy or unanswered. It is further desirable that the service subscriber be able to access the intelligent call connection service as soon as the subscriber picks up a phone to initiate a call, i.e., without the subscriber dialing any access number to reach the service. It is also desirable that subscribers be able to access the intelligent call connection service from rotary phones.
In one embodiment, the present invention contemplates an intelligent call connection service that establishes a telephone connection between a caller and a callee (i.e., the called party). The service includes receiving a first telephone call from the caller, wherein the first telephone call identifies a telephone number for the callee; placing a second telephone call to the callee at the telephone number; identifying whether one of the following conditions is present at a telephone associated with the callee""s telephone number: the telephone remains on-hook after receiving the second telephone call, and the telephone has been off-hook prior to receiving the second telephone call; prompting the caller to indicate whether the caller wishes to continue calling the callee""s telephone number despite the one of the conditions; allowing the caller to hang up after indicating the caller""s desire to continue calling the callee""s telephone number; placing one or more phone calls to the callee""s telephone number until a predetermined time period runs out, wherein two consecutive phone calls from the one or more phone calls are spaced a predetermined interval apart; requesting the callee to remain on line after the callee answers one of the one or more phone calls; and placing a third telephone call to the caller using a reach list to establish the telephone connection between the caller and the callee, wherein the reach list includes a plurality of caller-specific telephone numbers that provides options for contacting the caller at more than one telephone number.
The call connection service obviates the need for the service subscriber to repetitively monitor the availability of callee""s telephone line or to remain present at one telephone location until the callee gets connected. The call connection service allows caller mobility when the callee does not answer the caller""s phone call on the first attempt or when the callee""s telephone line is busy when the caller first dials the callee""s number. After the subscriber dials the callee""s number, the connection service takes over and the subscriber need not wait on line for the callee to answer. If the called party""s line is busy or unanswered, the connection service prompts the subscriber to hang up. Thereafter, the connection service continues calling the called party for a predetermined duration and, when the called party answers, calls the subscriber back at one or more of the telephone numbers supplied by the subscriber as part of the service subscription. The service doesn""t require the caller/subscriber to reinitiate the call when the called party""s line is busy or unanswered. The call connection service takes a subscriber""s call and connects to a destination requiring only one calling attempt by the caller/subscriber.
In an alternative embodiment, the present invention further contemplates a telecommunication system that is configured to provide the intelligent call connection service in the manner given hereinabove. The telecommunication system may implement the call connection service by executing corresponding software for the service. The telecommunication system may be an AIN (Advanced Intelligent Network) platform. In one embodiment, a telecommunications service provider or the operator of the telecommunication system may charge the subscribers fees to utilize the call connection service. The connection service software may be equipped with a dialed pulse digit detection feature to allow subscribers with rotary phones to also use the service from their rotary phones.